5 Ways to Create a Flexible Workplace
In today’s business environment, it has become extremely critical that managers assess the impact that creating a flexible workplace has on employees. To begin a flexible workplace encompasses employees and managers agreeing to generate a working environment that accommodates the employee’s particular needs to give employees a positive work-life balance. This has become a top priority of managers as the benefits associated with having a flexible workplace has been largely sought out. As such, one benefit that is increasing employee job satisfaction levels has been linked to an increased effort in providing employees with flexible working arrangements.
Likewise, the benefit has a variety of other key benefits associated to it, for example, with an increased level of employee job satisfaction a correlated increase in work motivation, productivity and effective task completion can be gained. Moreover, when an employee is provided with flexibility within the workplace, they can be seen to have a reduction in negative health issues associated with poor workplace practices such as stress, anxiety and depression. Due to the working arrangements that are provided to the employees and further the reduction of negative health issues employees become less likely to experience poor productivity strainers such as burnout that detrimentally would have impacted the employees’ overall experience within the workplace.
In turn, it becomes extremely essential for managers to ensure that they are constantly working to create a flexible workplace to remove negative impacts and acquire the positive benefits associated with not creating a flexible workplace. Correspondingly, below specifically entails five ways in which managers can create a flexible workplace.
Assign Tasks Only During Working Hours
The first way for managers to effectively ensure that they are creating a flexible workplace is through assigning tasks only during employee working hours. This is largely due to flexible workplaces ensuring that they do not overwork employees and likely reduce the chances of employee burnout occurring. Furthermore, when managers do not overwork employees after work hours, they ensure they are keeping the employees’ work-life balance at an all-time high, allowing for employees to take a break and work the next day more efficiently with increasing productivity.
Encourage Remote Working
Mangers can further effectively ensure that they are encouraging remote working to create a flexible workplace. Today remote working has become extremely common for individuals to stay healthy and further to work with their daily schedules. Remote working allows individuals who have to travel extreme distances or families who have young children the ability to work from home and eliminate the stress associated with coming to the office and adjusting to difficult schedules that may impact the healthy work-life balance of oneself. Moreover, when managers encourage remote working employees are increasingly likely to be satisfied that the workplace is caring about the employee and having trust in the employee to get work done from not only in the office.
Advocate Breaks
Another extremely critical way in which managers may effectively create a flexible workplace is through advocating to employees the importance of taking breaks. Breaks are extremely critical as it helps employees regain their focus and effectively work towards increasing the productivity levels of an individual. If breaks are not advocated and managers are not flexible for allowing employees to have breaks an employee is likely to be stressed and in turn experience burnout. Likewise, it becomes critical that breaks are advocated to employees when building a flexible working environment.
Support Teamwork
Managers are able to effectively create a flexible workplace for employees by ensuring that they are supporting employees to get involved in teamwork practices. Teamwork is important in a flexible workplace as it allows employees to go to others and seek sharing of knowledge and skills to help in task completion. When managers allow individual employees to work in teams’ employees may experience more workplace comfort knowing that they have people around them that are willing to be helpful when the employee is confused. In turn, when managers effectively support teamwork a manager can successfully increase the chances of creating a largely flexible workplace.
Listen to Employee Personal Needs
Managers can further effectively ensure that they are creating a flexible workplace for employees through increasingly listening to various employee personal needs. Specifically, employee personal needs encompass a variety of employee-specific attributes that employee will want when they are working. For example, an employee may enjoy starting late and finishing late for their specific work schedule. In turn, if a manager adheres to this request of the employee, the employee can be increasingly satisfied that the workplace is being extremely generous and flexible in how they can undertake work within the office. Likewise, it is important if managers want to develop a flexible workplace to constantly check with the employee if they need anything that may assist them and the organisation mutually. Moreover, when listening to employee personal needs correctly managers will be able to effectively create a flexible workplace.
